Lansdowne debate to draw hundreds

Ottawa city councillors are preparing for at least a day of passionate arguments for and against the proposed plan to redevelop Lansdowne Park.

Almost 100 public delegations are scheduled to speak at a special meeting of city council about the Lansdowne Partnership Plan on Thursday, with the last speaker scheduled just before midnight.

The Lansdowne Partnership Plan would see Lansdowne Park's Frank Clair football stadium renovated, green space expanded, and condos, a movie theatre, shops and restaurants built through a public-private partnership between the City of Ottawa and the Ottawa Sport and Entertainment Group.

After three hours of presentations and questions beginning at 10 a.m. Thursday, the public will get its turn to address city councillors.

According to deputy city clerk Leslie Donnelly,council's first order of business on Thursday will be to decide how to proceed.

"The very first thing council will have to do is extend the meeting and decide how late they will be sitting and how many public delegations will be received . We expect it to go at least two days."

After hearing the public delegations, council will debate and vote on whether to proceed with the Lansdowne Partnership Plan a process that could carry over into Saturday, if no decision is reached before the weekend.

Even if council approves the proposed development in principle, councillors won't vote on a final draft of the deal until May.